Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume

Characters talking during a dialogue sequence (Japanese version)

Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume is a tactical role-playing game in which players take on the role of main protagonist Wylfred and a group of allies for turn-based tactical combat in three-dimensional isometric areas with a rotatable camera angle.[1][2] The gameplay and general information is separated between the two screens of the Nintendo DS: story sequences and the in-game map and battle sequences are placed on the bottom screen, while the top screen shows battle information.[3][4]

The story progresses through chapters, with different story routes available that offer different recruitable characters and difficulty levels. Locations are reached using a world map. Between battles and story sections, the player can visit towns where merchants are based; merchants sell new equipment and items with currency earned through battles or selling items. There are also taverns, where players can learn additional lore about the world and pick up side-quests featuring battles against secondary foes.[5] During navigation or town visits, the player can organise their units, including which will participate in battle and what abilities and weapons they can use. Each unit has a character class, which grant them unique weapon affinities and impact their attack range and movement speed.[6] New units join Wylfred based on which path he takes through the story, with those he does not recruit turning up as enemies in later stages.[7]

The game's turn-based battles play out in a grid-based arena; four units can be fielded in any battle, each assigned to one of the DS's controller buttons. Units are able to move a set number of squares, either attacking or using a Skill on themselves or nearby friendly units.[1][4] Once battle is triggered with an enemy, the action shifts into a dedicated arena, with adjoining player and allied units joining in the battle. The player launches attacks in real-time, with each character being assigned to a DS's controller button. Continuous attacks raise an Attack Gauge, and if an attack session raises the Gauge to or above 100 then the attacking halts for a moment, the final attack will trigger a cinematic "Soul Crush" finishing move. The player can continue attacks and finishing moves up to a certain point even when an enemy's health is depleted, dubbed "Overkill" by the game.[4][8]

Skills are learned from Skill Books, consumable items that can impart a new skill to a chosen unit. Skill Books can be bought at merchants, received as loot from defeated enemies, or received as a reward after a battle ends. Skills are divided into two categories; Field Skills which can be used on the battlefield to perform actions such as changing position or increasing movement range, and Battle Skills which raise defence or regenerate health.[9] Each unit has Action Points (AP), which are spent by using items, performing special Skills, and casting magic. The amount of AP used increases the scale and range of an ability. AP regenerates after each round, with the regeneration amount varying depending on the action taken. Remaining inactive during a turn yields the largest amount of AP.[10]

A key mechanic tied to the narrative is the Destiny Plume, an item given to Wylfred which he can use to raise a unit's strength for a few turns within one battle. Once the battle ends or the turn limit expires, the unit is subjected to permanent death, removing them from the rest of the game. Sacrificing a unit grants Wylfred a unique skill in exchange. How often or whether the player uses the Plume directly impacts the narrative.[1][2] Another resource tied to battles is Sin. During each battle, Wylfred is assigned a quota of Sin he must accumulate in each battle. Sin is gathered either by using the Plume, or performing Overkill attacks. If the quota is not met by the end of battle, the next battle features a powerful enemy that the party must defeat.[7]

Upon defeating an enemy, experience points are awarded to all active units.[3] If Wylfred falls in battle, or the Plume is used too many times, the player receives a "Game Over" and must restart from an earlier save.[1][8] Upon completing the game once, the player can use New Game Plus, carrying over abilities and Skills learned during the previous playthrough without impacting the new game's narrative.[7] Once all story routes are completed, the player can enter a secret dungeon called the Seraphic Gate, where they can defeat and recruit unique units.[7]

Covenant of the Plume takes place in an unnamed world inspired by Norse mythology; the world is split between Asgard, home of the Æsir and Vanir, Midgard, the realm of humans, and Niflheim, the realm of the dead. The storyline is set prior to the events of Valkyrie Profile, in the original timeline prior to the events of its sequel Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria.[11] In the game's backstory, a soldier called Thyodor is killed in battle and taken by the Valkyrie Lenneth as an einherjar, soldiers of the Æsir in the war against the Vanir, leaving only a feather in her wake. Thyodor's death leaves his family in poverty; his wife Margot goes insane, his daughter Elsie starves to death, and his son Wylfred swears vengeance against Lenneth. Years later, Wylfred becomes a mercenary as his land is engulfed in conflict due to the king's failing health, hoping this is the ideal opportunity to meet and kill Lenneth; he still keeps Lenneth's feather as a reminder of his mission. He is accompanied by his friend Ancel, who wants to dissuade him from his path.

During a mission, Wylfred is attacked by monsters and mortally wounded; he is saved by Niflheim's queen Hel, who imbues Lenneth's feather with dark power, dubbing it the Destiny Plume. In exchange for bathing it in conflict and sin, it will grant him the power to destroy Lenneth. Using the Plume, Wylfred is able to increase Ancel's strength to defeat the monsters; however, the Plume's power kills Ancel immediately after the battle. He is taken to safety by Ailyth, a liaison between him and Hel. The rest of the narrative is influenced by the player's choice; these choices include an initial choice of alliance during a rebellion against the local government, and whether Wylfred chooses to use the Plume. Following the king's death, his sons Langrey and Kristoff both claim the throne, leading to civil war. The exact events of the war are influenced by Wylfred's alliances and use of the Plume, but eventually the war is ended. After the war concludes, the game's ending begins. If the Plume is used at any time following Ancel's death, it transforms into a weapon capable of felling Lenneth. Lenneth is attracted by Wylfred's actions, and those sacrificed to it come to her aid in the final battle as einherjar.

• Ending C: If the Plume is used multiple times, Wylfred defeats Lenneth, but the Æsir Freya retrieves the valkyrie's soul. She tells Wylfred that his actions were futile as Lenneth will be reborn. Ailyth confirms he was used as a puppet by Hel for her cold war against Asgard. He is condemned to eternal torment in Niflheim.
• Ending B: If the Plume is used just once, Wylfred is stopped from attacking Lenneth by Thyodor, who is defeated in their battle. When Wylfred renounces his path, Ailyth attacks Wylfred for breaking the covenant, and Thyodor sacrifices himself to take Wylfred's place in Niflheim. Wylfred lives to atone for his actions, and Lenneth is forced to leave as retaking Thyodor would provoke open war between Asgard and Niflheim.
• Ending A: If the Plume is never used, a disappointed Ailyth arrives and reveals herself as Hel's demon hound Garm, who has been orchestrating the war for Hel's own ambitions. Lenneth allows Ancel—now an einherjar—to help Wylfred defeat Garm. Before vanishing, Ancel forgives Wylfred and tells him to fix Elsie's music box before vanishing. Wylfred returns home and fixes the music box; this cures Margot's insanity, allowing Wylfred to settle into a happier life.
• If the Plume is used too many times, Freya appears and defeats Wylfred. Ailyth reports back to Hel, who admonishes her to be more careful in her choice of human next time. This is a game over scenario.

In both Ending B and C, the Æsir's leader Odin speaks with Freya about the impact of events on Lenneth's conscience, which is causing her to sympathise with humans. To prevent her abandoning her duty, they decide to erase her human memories when she is next summoned to help them.[11]

Covenant on the Plume was developed by tri-Ace, creators of the Valkyrie Profile series, and published by Square Enix.[12] Production began in 2006, following the completion of Silmeria. The game's staff included people from both Silmeria and Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, a PlayStation Portable (PSP) port of the original game.[11] At the time, the game was tri-Ace's first title for portable consoles.[13] According to lead programmer Shinji Hirachi, the game's production was "hard work from beginning to end" and a very emotional experience for him. The team's main challenge was creating a new gameplay experience while staying true to the aesthetics and style of the Valkyrie Profile series.[14] Shunsuke Katsumata, the game's director at tri-Ace, felt a lot of pressure to create a high quality product due to the fan base's high expectations from the series.[15] While the gameplay moved away from the traditional RPG gameplay of the previous games, the team felt the current system inherited the tactical elements from Silmeria.[12]

The game's engine was designed by its main developer Takeshi Sakame to push the limits of the DS hardware with its map rendering and particle effects. Maintaining the game running at 60 frames per second, a goal set by the tri-Ace team, was difficult. After the voice files were introduced, the game's frame rate was cut to 30, forcing Sakame to make some adjustments to the engine.[16] Despite the alterations in hardware and battle perspective, Katsumata felt they had accurately captured the feeling of battle from earlier Valkyrie Profile titles.[15] Each stage was individually designed to work from the tilted camera perspective, each having a unique environmental theme that was present from the concept stages onward.[17] Due to the protagonist being human, the game was on a smaller scale than earlier entries as he could not fly around a world map.[12]

The story concept was created by Miho Akabane.[18] The script was handled by Yasushi Ohtake and Kishiko Miyagi of writing company EdgeWorks.[19] In contrast to earlier entries which showed events from the perspective of the Valkyries and other divine powers, Covenant of the Plume focused on a human lead, creating a more relatable view of the world for players.[12] The main theme of the story is "Vengeance on the Gods".[20] While Silmeria focused on the titular sister of Lenneth and her human host Alice, and the first Valkyrie Profile viewed the einherjar from a distant perspective, Covenant of the Plume focused on the feelings and plight of the einherjar.[12] The scenario's concept came to Akabane from watching a commercial for the original Valkyrie Profile, which showed Lenneth retrieving the soul of a man while his old mother grieved over the body. Akabane wondered whether the old woman might view Lenneth as a goddess of death rather than salvation.[18] While cameo appearances from Valkyrie Profile and Silmeria characters were suggested by producer Yoshinori Yamagishi, these were ultimately discarded due to the focus on human stories.[12] The characters were designed by series veterans Ko Yoshinari and Yoh Yoshinari.[12] In-game character sprites were designed by Toshimitsu Hanafusa, who had previously worked on the graphics of Silmeria. Keeping the highly dramatic style of the series in mind, Hanafusa wanted to portray the characters in a very human way.[21] The 3D CGI cut-scenes were produced by Studio Anima.[22]

The game debuted on the Japanese sales charts at number two, selling 80,000 copies.[44] This was around the same sales level as Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth for the PSP, and was described by another site as "quite impressive".[45] It was the 97th best-selling game in Japan in 2008, selling 136,948 copies with a sell-through rate of under 50%.[46] As of May 31, 2009, the game sold 230,000 copies worldwide; most sales were in Japan with 160,000 units, while North America and Europe saw respective sales of 50 and 20,000. While among their better-selling titles of the 2008-2009 period, these figures also made Covenant of the Plume the lowest-selling named title.[47]

Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume has received mostly positive reviews. The game's story was highly praised by reviewers; Daemon Hatfield of IGN termed it a "very mature, serious adventure" and praised the "very well written" script.[4] Shiva Stella of GameSpot called it "fascinating" and very engaging, and Hyper's Daniel Wilks commended the game for being "very dark in tone".[1][48] The gameplay was likewise praised; Kat Bailey of 1UP.com said that it goes "a long way toward restoring the fundamental character of the series".[39] Hatfield added that "it's the battle system that really distinguishes Covenant of the Plume," and both reviews noted the Plume mechanic as novel and interesting.[4] James Clark of RPGFan called it the game's "most dramatic and interesting gameplay feature".[43] All three reviews also, however, called out the game's AI as lackluster.[4][39][43] Bailey also criticized the map design as "a recurring problem".[39]

The reception of the graphics was mixed: Stella of GameSpot praised the graphics, including the character sprites and animations, but RPGFan's Clark termed it merely a "decent-looking game", while Bailey of 1UP.com criticized the "pixelated sprites, [and] the ugly polygonal landscape".[1][39][43] The music was criticized by Clark, Stella, and Hatfield for mainly reusing music from Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, but with worse sound quality.[4][39][43]

• Official website (archived 2009)
• Official website (in Japanese)